Richard Haldane

Richard Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane (30 July 1856-19 August 1928) was a British Liberal Party and Labour Party politician. Haldane served as Secretary of War from 1905 to 1912 and as Lord Chancellor from 1912 to 1915 and in 1924.

Biography
Richard Haldane was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1856. He was educated in Edinburgh apart from a brief spell at the German University of Gottingen in 1874. He was called to the bar in 1879, and entered Parliament in 1885 for the Liberal Party, representing the constituency of East Lothian. As Secretary of State for War from 1905 to 1912, he carried out fundamental army reforms. He created a small expeditionary force, equipped for instant action, along with a reserve territorial force. An Imperial General Staff was made responsible for all military strategic planning. In 1912, he became Lord Chancellor, but H.H. Asquith dismissed him in 1915 following an unjustified press campaign which claimed he was pro-German. Following the war he supported the Labour Party, and was once again made Lord Chancellor in 1924. His main domestic concern was education: he co-founded the London School of Economics with Sidney and Beatrice Webb, was President of Birkbeck College, and an active supporter of the Workers' Educational Association. He died in 1928.